


How to Woo Dex in 5 Steps

by pushupindrag



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Wooing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-05
Updated: 2016-11-05
Packaged: 2018-08-29 05:04:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8476414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pushupindrag/pseuds/pushupindrag
Summary: Nursey hadn't realised he had been trying to woo Dex since the beginning on their friendship. But once he realises, he makes a plan that he hopes is going to work in wooing Dex.   Nursey had been trying to woo Dex from the beginning, whether he realised it or not.    The goading and the arguments and the chirps made sense once he realised it was his version of pulling Dex’s pigtails in the playground. He was glad he was past that, because now they were friends.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Wow this took a while. But it's longer than I expected so yay?
> 
>  
> 
> Come chat with me about Check Please! On my tumblr [here!](http://postpvnk.tumblr.com/)
> 
> Un'beted so if you find any mistakes please let me know :)

Nursey had been trying to woo Dex from the beginning, whether he realised it or not.

The goading and the arguments and the chirps made sense once he realised it was his version of pulling Dex’s pigtails in the playground. He was glad he was past that, because now they were friends. Even if that made it even harder for him to show his feelings. Any time he tried to be affectionate, it was just seen as being friendly, and no amount of compliments disguised as gentle chirps or play fighting seemed to get it through to Dex, who was seemingly oblivious to every attempt that Nursey made.

So Nursey had a plan. After a few too many drinks one night, both of them sitting with their back to Dex’s bed in Dex’s dorm, passing a bottle back and forth while unread textbooks lay around them, Nursey had found out that Dex was a hopeless romantic. The kind that secretly loved 80’s romantic films. He was one for cheesy gestures, but nothing too grand, as he wasn’t a big one for public displays of affection. Despite his secret love of romance.

Nursey was a poetry man, of course he could do cheesy and romantic gestures. And once he found out that Dex loved those too, a plan had started to form.

He started with coffee dates at a small coffee place off campus. Once a week, every week, specifically Thursday afternoons because they both had a few free hours, Nursey would take Dex to Cool Beans (they both smiled at the name every time they walked in) and buy him a mocha. Because Dex secretly loved mochas, and Nursey was the only one who knew.

The first time he had done it, dragging Dex in with a smile, Dex had rolled his eyes and tried his hardest to pay.

“No Nursey come on. Please-” Dex was blushing, and Nursey wasn’t sure if that was because of the heat from the coffee shop or because Dex was embarrassed about his drink being paid for.

“Nope. My treat. You work too hard, this is your reward!” Nursey makes sure there’s a teasing lilt to his voice as he looks at Dex under his eyelashes. Meeting Dex’s second eye roll with a grin before he’s whisking the tray out of Dex’s hand and going over to their previously claimed booth.

“You’re not going to let me do anything are you?”

“Nope.” Popping the p, Nursey just settles into his seat, watching as Dex rearranges himself and gets comfortable. “Now come on, tell me about why you think Chowders behaving a bit weird.”

Since then, Dex hadn’t complained. He just walked over to their booth, grabbing Nursey’s bag from his shoulder on his way to go and sit down.

The baristas knew their orders now, after three weeks of what Nursey was classing as weekly coffee dates. Wooing Dex was a slow process, but it was working.

Dex had been smiling a lot more now around Nursey, and the eye rolls had become fond in their despair at Nursey’s antics. He knew how many sugars to grab for Nursey on the way to their seats, and he knew more about Nursey’s moms and little siblings and about how Nursey missed them a whole lot, although he didn’t miss where they lived or the pricks around his neighbourhood.

In turn, Nursey knew about Dex’s large family, about how he missed his own mom and dad and his own four siblings. About how, secretly he was glad to be away from the noise and hubbub even if he missed it sometimes. He wasn’t a rebuplican, like Nursey had first thought, well not now anyway after having room to think for himself and not have his parents views pushed on him. He had also admitted, fidgeting and restless, about how he wasn’t sure about his sexuality anymore.

“I don't know man. I just, there are people you know.” He had looked confused and stricken, eyes shifty and uncomfortable. Nursey hadn’t wanted to make anything worse.

“Yeah, I know.” He waits for a beat to see if Dex will look up from his drink, and when he doesn’t Nursey adds “And that’s not a bad thing. No matter what anyone says.”

“Yeah?” Dex still doesn’t look up, but his shoulders lose a small bit of tension.

“Yeah, hell. I’m pan you know. Gender doesn’t really come into it for me.” It's that that Dex had looked up at, eyes wide.

“So that’s a thing? That’s not weird?” And finally Nursey got it. He got why Dex hadn’t dated since coming to Samwell, hadn’t talked about anyone in the locker room when they were chatting about relationships. He hadn’t known that it was okay to feel the way he did. Hadn’t wanted to talk about it.  
  
“That’s definitely not weird.”  
  
Since then, they had become ever closer, Dex loosening up with information about himself and his moods and his thoughts, much like Nursey was doing. Dex, Nursey had found out, had an acoustic guitar lying around somewhere as at one point he had wanted to be a musician until he realised it didn’t promise financial stability, Nursey had made him promise to play for him some day.  
  
Nursey was forever grateful of the coffee dates, but he needed to move his plan along.  
  
Step two was movie dates. Which was probably the easiest step given that the Haus was fond of them, although they weren’t the best at deciding on an actual film.  
  
So one night, after sitting through another viewing of Fast and Furious (hey, watching fast cars and explosions was great, but not for the fourth time in two months) Nursey nudges Dex and gestures to his phone.  
  
_Own Number: U wanna get out of here and watch smth frm the 80s?_  
  
Nursey wasn’t above exploiting Dex’s love of 80’s movies to get him away from the Haus. He chances a look at Dex who’s making a face at him, but he eventually looks at his phone, shaking his head as he does.

 _Grump Face Emoji: Ye how?_  
  
_Own Number: Ill punch myself in the face_  
  
_Grump Face Emoji: No wait a second._  
  
Nursey doesn’t wait a second, just pretends to yawn and knocks himself. He didn’t mean to do it very hard, but he does it hard enough to smart, and to give himself a nosebleed.  
  
“You fucking idiot, come on.” Dex rolls his eyes but gets them both up, and Nursey is tipping his head back and pinching the bridge of his nose to stop the bleeding. “We’ll see you all tomorrow.”  
  
Nobody bats an eye as they both leave, just nod and wave. Nursey’s bleeding nose wasn’t a shock to anybody.  
  
“Your eyes are gonna stick if you keep rolling them so much you know.” Nursey splutters out when they finally get outside. Dex just takes his shirt off, leaving his t-shirt underneath and holds it under Nursey’s nose.  
“It’s gonna stain-”  
  
“I know how to get blood out of clothes, come on Nurse.” Nursey keeps his head tipped back with the shirt held over his nose as Dex gently takes hold of his wrist. Nursey hopes Dex can’t hear his heart rate increase, because its pounding so loud in his ears he must be able to. He doesn’t say anything, just follows as Dex leads him back to Nursey’s dorm.  
  
His nose had stopped bleeding by the time they get up to Nursey’s room, and Dex takes his shirt back, not even worried about the blood as he gestures to the bathroom. Nursey’s roommate wasn’t back, so they leave the door open as Nursey washes his face in the sink. Dex waits until Nursey’s finished, and Nursey leans against the wall as he watches Dex run some warm water in the sink, submerging the shirt.  
  
Nursey gets lost in watching Dex’s hands, so he jumps when Dex asks “You got any salt?”  
  
“Sure.” Going to get some, he hands the whole canister to Dex.  
  
“Go and put the film on i’ll be out in a sec.”  
  
“Okay.” Doing as Dex says, Nursey goes and sets his laptop up on his bed, pulling his pillows up against the headboard and wall before going into the kitchen to get his stash of snacks. What was a movie night without snacks?  
  
He makes two big bowls of popcorn, sweet for him and salted for Dex because apparently Dex was a weirdo, and makes them both coffee before grabbing the sweets and crisps.  
  
Dex is settled up against the wall, laptop on his knee.  
  
“I was thinking about Dirty Dancing?”  
  
“Hell yeah, Patrick Swayze here we come. Here hold the popcorn.” He passes the bowls to Dex along with the crisps and sweets.  
  
“Which is the salted?”  
  
“Blue bowl!” Calling from the kitchen, Nursey grabs the coffee and heads back.  
  
Dex has settles himself again, food around him with the space next to him free for Nursey.  
  
“Found it, turn the lights off.”  
  
Nursey flicks off the light as he goes in, shutting the door behind him before going over to the bed and getting comfortable, basically plastered up against Dex as they squash up against each other on the single bed.  
  
So they have movie night once a week too after that. Most of the time it consists of a movie on in the background while they study. Dex lying on the floor and Nursey on the bed, still eating popcorn and drinking coffee. It’s nice, being together and just doing their own thing. Occasionally one of them will chime in with a line they know off by heart, or hum along to one of the songs. And that’s just as good.  
  
The third step isn’t one Nursey had planned.  
  
Dex was sick. Curled up in bed and hacking up his lungs. Nursey goes out and buys every single cold medicine he can find, and takes over the Haus kitchen for a few hours too.  
  
“I’m making Dex soup go away!” Bitty had left him, covering his eyes with his hands and a stern  
  
“Don’t you dare make a mess of my kitchen Mr Nurse.” While Chowder was bouncing at the door.  
  
“Come on let me help.”  
  
“No, i’m doing this. Just like my moms made.”  
  
“You’re making Dex soup?” Holster was hanging over Chowder and Nursey turns around with a glare.  
  
“You made Bitty teach you how to bake Ransoms favourite pie when he was sad fuck off.”  
  
They both leave with their hands up while Nursey sets to work. It wasn’t a hard dish, just a simple chicken chilli soup that always had him feeling better when he was ill.  
  
He makes a large batch of it, only burning himself once on the stove. Before he cleans up after himself and takes the whole thing in a massive crock pot to Dex’s dorm. Also armed with his stock of cold medicines, some warm bed socks he had found in his drawer and his favourite hoodie. Because soft things made him feel better, and maybe they’de make Dex feel better too.  
  
It’s stuffy in Dex’s  room when he gets there, and Dex is just a sad lump in the middle of his bed. He looks ill, paler than usual with greasy hair and deep bags under his eyes, shadow of a beard coming through..  
  
“Nursey?”  
  
“Hey Dex.” The lights are off, so Nursey keeps it that way, silently closing the door behind him. “I brought you some soup, and some medicine.”  
  
“Don’t want any more medicine.” Dex rolls over, exposing his bare back to Nursey. Nursey just gently pulls the covers over Dex’s shoulder.  
  
“You’re gonna have to have it if you want to get better. And I made the soup myself so you’re gonna have to eat it for me. Nobody else will.”  
  
Dex starts coughing, hacking wet coughs and all Nursey can do is lay a hand on his back and rub at his shoulder blades until he stops “You made it yourself?”  
  
“Sure did Poindexter.”  
  
“How many times did you burn yourself?” Dex finally rolls over, trying his best to sit up, eventually giving up and looking pitifully up at Nursey. Not saying anything Nursey helps him, fluffing his pillows as Dex leans against his headboard.  
  
“Once. I ran it under the cold tap and everything.” Nursey sticks his arm out, knowing that Dex would worry if he didn’t see that the swelling was already going down.  
  
“‘M proud of you. There’s some bandages and cream under the bathroom sink go and get that for it-”  
  
“Not until you’ve had some of the soup okay.” Compromising was the way to go with Dex, and Dex nods.  
  
“Okay. You brought it in?”  
  
“Crock pot full of it in your kitchen. But I got you a bowl here.” He had grabbed a serving before coming into the room.  
  
Dex takes it from him, hands a little weak. “Okay, now go and get the stuff, i’ll dress it for you.”  
  
“You sure you don’t want to be a nurse?”  Nursey calls out, smiling to himself.  
  
“Nah, that’s your thing.” Dex sounded pathetic, even though Nursey knew he was trying hard not to, so he makes quick work of grabbing the dressings and cream.  
  
Dex is eating when he gets back into the room. “This is really good Derek.”  
  
The use of his actual name makes him stop for a second, it was so weird coming from Dex. But it sounded nice and warm. Nursey wanted him to keep saying it.  
  
Instead of saying that though, he just continues over to the bed. Dex wasn’t with it enough to have noticed his pause.  
  
“Here’s the bandages scruffy, you gonna patch me up?”  
  
“Yeah.” He sounds put together, but there’s a glaze in his eyes that comes with being sick that Nursey knows has Dex’s head muffled. Still though, he dutifully puts the cream on Nursey’s burn and bandages it up properly, slower than usual but still correct.  
  
“You always take care of me huh.” Nursey smiles down at him as Dex wipes the excess cream off onto his comforter, picking his bowl of soup back up from the nightstand.  
  
“Yeah.” And he did, between patching up hockey injuries and making sure Nursey got enough sleep. Dex was always taking care of him.  
  
“Well it’s my turn now.” Nursey sits properly on the bed, one hand on Dex’s knee. “I’ve got medicine for you that you’re gonna have to take. And I brought you some socks and a hoodie.”  
  
“A hoodie?”  
  
“You don’t have any soft hoodies, and this one is my favourite because it’s super soft. It always makes me feel better, so it should make you better too.”  
  
Dex looks at him for a moment, before nodding. “Okay.”  
  
“And socks. Do you want me to put them on for you?”  
  
“Yes, please. If I bend down right now my head spins.”  
  
“Must be nice having a servant to wait on you like this.” Nursey gabs the socks from his bag though, going to the end of Dex’s bed to pull the covers back a little to see Dex’s legs bare. “No wonder you have a cold are you sleeping in your damn underwear?”  
  
“No.” Dex carries on eating his soup, as if what he’s just said hadn’t completely toppled Nursey’s world.  
  
“What the fuck.” Muttering under his breath, he tries to will his blush down as he quickly puts the socks on Dex’s feet. Dex really must be out of it if he was openly admitting to sleeping in the nude without a hint of a blush on his face.  
  
“Hoodie? And is there more soup?”  
  
And oh fuck Nursey was going to have to hand over his hoodie to a basically naked Dex to wear.  
  
“Sure, and i’ll get you some more in a minute hold on, first you have to take this.” Scrabbling in the plastic bag, his hand closes around the box of nighttime cold medicine given that it was around half seven.  
  
“Oh no, Nursey please don’t make me.” Dex looks even more pathetic as he eyes up the box in Nursey’s hands.  
  
“Who thought you'd be so adverse to taking medicine. And don’t worry, it’s tablets.” Dex only looks slightly more relieved.  
  
There’s already a glass of water on Dex’s nightstand so Nursey hands it over, getting two pills from the bottle and handing them over too. “Come on now Dex. Just take them and then i’ll get you your soup.”  
  
Dex does with a grimace, one after the other and shivers after taking each one. “You happy now?”  
  
“Very.”  
  
He goes back to his bag and gets the hoodie out.  
  
“You’re gonna have to do this one yourself while I go and get your soup okay?” He waits for Dex to nod and take the hoodie off of him before he practically races out to the kitchen. He didn’t want to think about a naked Dex wearing his clothes, especially while Dex was sick.  
  
So he doesn’t. He takes a moment to clear his head before getting another bowlful of soup and going back to Dex's room.  
  
When he gets back into the room, Dex has the hoodie on, hood up, and is slumped against his pillows.His mouths open in a snore.  
  
“How did you fall asleep so quickly?” Shaking his head, he puts the soup down and carefully lies Dex down so that he’s lying down. He tucks the covers around him, before sitting down next to the bed and taking his phone out, getting the soup for himself.  
  
Accidentally, he stays there all night,falling asleep with his head rested on the bed.  
  
“Nursey?” Dex wakes him up in the morning, eyes bleary and brows furrowed in confusion.  
  
“Yeah Dex?” Nursey can’t seem to will himself fully awake, so he looks at Dex instead.  
  
“You stayed?”  
  
“Yeah.” Dex doesn’t say anything else, but he smiles sleepily, one that reached his eyes and warmed Nursey to his core. Instead of doing anything about it, he groans and gets up to make them both some coffee.  
  
The fourth step is skating. Because they were hockey players, and Nursey knew how much Dex loved skating.  
  
He manages to book an hour on the ice, just for him and Dex.  
  
“Are you sure I don’t need my gear?”  They were lacing up by the side of the rink, both just in sweats and hoodies.  
  
“I’m sure, this isn’t a practise.”  
  
“Then why are we here?”  
  
“To skate dumbass!” Nursey jumps the boards, nearly falling over before  he’s  skating across the ice, laughing. “It’s nice to have the rink to yourself once a while. Just to skate!”  
  
He turns and watches as Dex follows, jumping much more graciously than Nursey had before he’s skating over.  
  
“Just to skate?”  
  
“Well, you said that you missed it.” Shrugging, Nursey turns to Dex, letting himself stare for a second as a beam broke out on Dex’s face before hitting him on the arm. “Tag! You’re it!” Before he skates away.  
  
“Oh it’s on Nurse!” Nursey can hear the laughter in his voice, and it’s one of the happiest things he’s ever heard.  
  
“You’ll have to catch me first!” He shouts back, before both of their laughter and shrieking fills the rink. Bouncing off the ice as they chase each other like kids.  
  
Both of them are slipping everywhere, not caring about anything except catching the other whenever it’s their turn to chase, and they’re pretty much neck and neck at this point despite the sliding. It’s no surprise when they fall. Dex skating head on into Nursey in a vicious attempt to tag him, and they go flying.  
  
Both are shouting until they stop, Dex’s weight on top of Nurse something Nursey wants forever. Their arms are tangled between them, and Nursey knows that his back’s gonna kill in the morning from the fall. But they’re panting into one another, moods high off the adrenaline rush of being able to act like kids again.  
  
Neither move when they come to a stop, they just lay there for a second. Dex is looking down at him and Nursey is melting under the gaze, Dex’s eyes are soft and happy, and he’s untangling their arms so he can rest one hand on Nursey’s side. Nursey’s sure he see’s his eyes flick down to look at his lips and then Nursey leans up.  
  
“Get off the ice! Your hour’s up!”  
  
The moments gone. And Nursey groans out loud before he sees Dex smiling down at him.  
  
“Come on.” Taking Dex’s outstretched hand, they get up and leave the ice. Not a word said about the moment.  
  
The last step is an impromptu one. One that Nursey hadn’t necessarily planned, but was entirely grateful for afterwards.  
  
They’re on washing up duty at the Haus after Haus diner. They’ve got the radio on in the background, and both of them are dancing while Dex washes and Nursey dries. They’re laughing and dancing, bumping into each other, with Dex smushing the bubbles into Nursey’s hair or blowing them at him whenever Nursey has his back turned. Nursey just keeps hitting him with the tea towel in retaliation.  
  
And then Taylor Swift’s ‘Love Story’  comes on the radio.  
  
It’s the perfect opportunity.  
  
Nursey grabs  wooden spoon from the ‘to dry’ pile, grabbing Dex’s wrist to turn him around so he can see him. And of course, starts to sing.  
  
“Romeo take me somewhere we can be alone, i’ll be waiting all that’s left to do is run!” Dex looks confused for a moment as Nursey sings, and it takes another line of Nursey singing for him to catch on before he’s rolling his eyes and trying to turn away.  
  
There’s a smile tugging at the corner of his lips though, so Nursey just keeps hold of him, feeling the pulse in Dex’s wrist pick up a little.  
  
“So close your eyes, escape this town for a little while!” Dex tries to pull away again but he’s laughing, and Nursey goes to grab his other hand dropping the spoon as he holds on. Not caring about the water running down their arms and getting the floor wet.  
  
The noise from the living room has died down, but Nursey can’t seem to care as slowly, he pulls Dex in. And Dex doesn’t protest, he just goes. There’s a blush that Nursey knows will reach his damn navel, but he hasn’t stopped smiling. The pulse in his wrist hasn’t slowed either.  
  
“This love is difficult, but it’s real.” He knows he’s getting quieter as Dex gets closer, and it pains him a little to let go of Dex’s wrists so he can put his hands on Dex’s hips instead.He squeezes once, and dex falls into him even more, pushing them chest to chest.  
  
Nursey can feel himself blush when Dex puts his arms around Nursey’s shoulders, and the song seems to die into background as they stare at eachother.  
  
Dex is still smiling, and Nursey can feel his own grin as they start to lean towards one another. Nursey stops himself though, just as he’s about to reach Dex’s lips.  
  
“It’s a love story baby just say yes.”  
  
And then he’s feeling Dex’s smile rather that seeing it, and it’s true what they say about fireworks.  
  
Everything had been worth it. The weeks and months it had taken, the bribery of the coaches for the hour on the ice, the getting sick straight after Dex. The wooing had been worth it.  
  
Dex was in his arms, kissing him with water running down both of their backs from the washing up. Nothing about this would ever not be worth it.  
  
They break away, but neither let go. Instead they let their foreheads rest against one another's.  
  
Nursey isn’t looking, he can’t seem to open his eyes with how much bliss he’s feeling at being in Dex’s arms but he hears the quiet “Yes.” that Dex breaths out.  
  
“You’ll be my Romeo Will?” He makes himself look at Dex and his heart stops when he does. Dex is staring back, adoringly and openly.  
  
“Yes, I will Derek.” But then he’s rolling his eyes and pushing Nursey away. Chuckling though. “I can’t believe you serenaded me with Taylor fucking Swift. Come on, we’ve got to finishes the dishes or Bitty will kill us.”  
  
“Your eyes will stick if you keep rolling them you know."  
  
“Shut the fuck up Juliet.” He’s reaching out for Nursey though, and Nursey willingly goes as he’s pulled in for another kiss.


End file.
